Current Events

3 honey-producers from the country have won huge accolades at the London Honey Awards in 2019.

Winner include – Ayii Anargyri’s Thyme Blossom Honey, which won the Gold Honey Award, and Mount Machairas and Thries Honey, which each won the Silver Award.

Ayii Anargyri was founded in 1975, and besides the Thyme Blossom Honey, produces the Orange as well as the Mountain Blossom Honey. Meanwhile, Silver award winners Mount Machairas, which was founded in 1983, additionally produces pure pollen and genuine Cypriot royal jelly. Thries Honey, on the other hand was founded in 2012 as a small family business and was named after the 3 Thries Nymphs who were known for their love for honey.

The London Honey Awards included participants from over 150 different companies from all over Europe – many from Greece and Italy. The “blind” method of tasting product samples to judge its taste, features and quality were used by judges.

The migrant crisis has been going on a head-to-head level, and circumstances do prove that there is very little to alleviate it.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, 12 irregular migrants have been picked up wandering around in Peristerona early in the morning. The migrants – consisting of 10 grown men and 2 youths, all male and of Syrian nationality were transferred to the Kokkinotrimithia temporary accommodation centre.

According to a statement from authorities, it has been a struggle to cope with the surging increase in asylum seekers, which in comparison to population size is literally the highest in all of the European Union.

According to Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides, the percentage of applications for asylum seeking has increased by over 130% in 2019 from what already was a higher number in 2018.

Michael Higgins, the President of Ireland will be visiting Cyprus in in response to an invitation from Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

The first such visit in Cyprus by Irish president since 2006 following President Anastasiades’ official Ireland visit in 2016. Said visit will include the discussion of the issue of the violation of the island country’s Exclusive Economic Zone by Turkey, along with others like Brexit and the bilateral relations between Cyprus and Ireland.

Additionally, President Higgins will be shown the buffer zone. He will also visit the Irish civilian police currently serving with Unficyp and will be addressing the House.

According to a statement issued by Ireland, the visit is a great opportunity to renew the bilateral relationship between Ireland and Cyprus and will publicly recognize Ireland’s contribution to the Unficyp.

In the case of a tragic accident, three people were killed and two were injured in a massive traffic collision on Turkish Cyprus’ Strongilos-Marathovounos road.

According to a statement from the Turkish Cypriot media, the accident involved a direct collision between two cars during the evening. One of these cars were carrying a family of four, while the other had only one driver.

Among the family of four, both parents – aged 42 and 40 were killed as their children aged 18 and 13 were critically injured. The second car’s driver, 30, was also injured.

4 people were arrested in Larnaca for trying to orchestrate a false marriage.

The four people in question include a 23-Year-Old woman and three men of ages 22, 23 and 41. They were arrested early morning right outside the municipality of Larnaca.

According to the police, the 23-year-old woman had arrived in Cyprus for the sole purpose of marrying one of the three men – a Cyprus citizen – and was to offer payment in exchange for her ‘service.’

All of the four were arrested and are currently due to appear in court in order to be remanded.

A team of four doctors – heart specialists from Israel arrived at the Cypriot hospital with the technology to save a woman in medical distress.

The patient in question was a 29-year-old woman resident of Nicosia who was suffering from childbirth-induced cardiac issues. With the lack of time and the appropriate technology to save her life, the doctors went on to issue a call for emergency that was later answered by doctors at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel.

The Israeli doctor gave the woman an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine, who’s function is to oxygenate the blood of a patient outside their body and allow their lungs and heart to get rest.

Once the Israeli doctors stabilized the woman, they transported her back to the Leviev Heart Center the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, which is where she is currently recovering.

Christopher Pincher, the Minister for Europe and the Americas has arrived in order to meet with the Foreign Minister and the President of Cyprus.

Aside from meeting President Nicos Anastasiades, the Minister will be discussing Brexit will be welcoming the latter Government’s offer that will be guaranteeing UK nationals’ rights to live in Cyprus.

Besides the President, Mr. Pincher will also meet Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides as well as Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci. He will further visit British Sovereign Base Areas and visit the members of the British military who were serving in Cyprus.

Mr. Pincher had nothing but great words for the Cypriot community and emphasized on the relationship between the two island nations, and how they will continue to grow in spite of Brexit.

The Cyprus Cannabis Association has been established with the blessings of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, popularly known as Keve.

The first ever meeting of the newly minted organization was held at the Chamber’s offices, where the main aims were discussed. These were – representing the interested organizations and stakeholders which will benefit from the cannabis industry, representing said industry at every government level to for education, research and promotion of its growth; and the creation of an economically practical and sound and prosperous cannabis industry on the island nation.

Founding Members of the Association include Harneys Law firm, Remedica Ltd, Quality Group, Deloitte Ltd, Alexander College Education Ltd, Constantinos Hadjiandreou, Logera Consulting Ltd, Olivier Sigolet, Magda Kozikowska, Athos HQ Group Business Services (Cyprus) Ltd, and KPL Biomedical Labs. Key officials of the Association include Andria Andreou (the President),  Konstantinos Hadjiandreou (the Vice President), Magda Kozikowska (the Secretary), and Kyriakos Lambrou (the Treasurer).

A British Airways airplane that had taken off from Larnaca in Cyprus made an emergency landing in Athens in Greece due to smoke being detected in its cabin.

The media in Greece has reported that the flight, that was originally intended to land in London in the UK instead ending up making an emergency landing at Eleftherios Venizelos airport in the country at around 7pm in the evening once smoke was detected in its cabin when the airplane was over Lemnos island.

The plane, specifically Flight BA2673 had 152 passengers and 6 crew members was in fact bound for Gatwick Airport.

Once the airplane made its emergency landing, the passengers were taken off of it as the technical servicemen checked it to find where the problem originated. The true cause of the problem is yet to be identified.

It has been found that Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades is all set to meet with the finance ministers of China and Russia in New York.

Arriving to New York to attend and address the UN General Assembly, President Anastasiades will be meeting with the UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres on September 27, along with attending the UN Climate Action Summit 2019.

The CNA has also discovered that besides the meeting with the finance ministers, he will also meet with the UN Security Council member state representatives, the Prime Ministers Macedonia and India, as well as the leaders of prominent American–Jewish organizations.

Additionally, President Anastasiades will meet with the Archbishop of America Elpidophoros and also attend a dinner which will be hosted by the Federation of Cypriot American Organizations in his honor.

The President is set to arrive to New York via via London, where he will be attending a dinner and delivering a speech. Said dinner is hosted by the National Federation of Cypriots’ UK Chapter.

The EU’s circularity rate in 2016 was 11.7% – therefore, 11.7% of materials used within the EU were sourced from recycled and recovered items, leaving behind a similar percentage of primary raw materials from being used.

The circularity percentage of various countries varies from one to another –Cyprus, for example stood at the fifth lowest with only 2.3% circularity rate.

The lowest was Greece with a circularity rate of 1.3 per cent while the highest was the Netherlands with an impressive 29 per cent circularity rate.

A lower circularity rate indicates several other factors such as recycling rates, which in turn shows the quality of life and environment and levels of pollution, not to mention their carbon footprint.

After a successful operation by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC), over 10 people on a small boat off of the Cyprus coastline were rescued by a commercial ship nearby.

According to the JRCC, a total of 12 people had been rescued – 10 of whom were on the boats and 2 of whom were in the water. They activated their Nearchos search and rescue plan, and thereafter sent the Onisilos police launch along with a police helicopter and a nurse.

Out of the 12, the two in the water were in critical danger and thereafter rescued by the commercial ship first.

The ship, along with the authorities and survivors will be arriving at Larnaca port, with other authorities on standby to transfer the survivors to the accommodation centre at Kokkinotrimithia.

Cyprus has been found to have the 3^rd highest share of workers who work part-time due to the unavailability of a full-time job.

According to a study by Eurostat, over 70 percent of the 65 percent people of the total population who worked part time jobs was because they simply could not find a job that employs them full time and pays accordingly. Given the lack of choices and the requirements of life (family, bills, loans, etc.) these people opted for part-time employment to escape unemployment. Other reasons were being in education, holding another part-time job, and having to spend time to look after family members and relatives. Several women reported to resort to part time jobs in order to balance their other responsibilities.

Among the EU member states, the highest share of people working part-time went to Greece (70%), followed by Italy (66%), Cyprus stood third, after which came Bulgaria (59%).

The lowest shares were taken up by Estonia at 6% followed by Slovenia, Belgium, and Czechia at 7% each.

Legislators all over the island nation have asked for an independent study to be made to research the potential health hazards of 5G before it is actually approved.

Akel MP Adamos Adamou announced to reporters that before issuing 5G licenses, a thorough account of the health of people must be taken into account. He added that while the addition of new technology would leave both the private and public sectors profited, the health and safety of citizens always comes first.

In recent days, professors and scientists have done and cited research that show that areas with higher levels of electromagnetic radiation tend to have more cases of cancer. According to the headmaster of a primary school in Nicosia, a cluster of cancer cases had occurred after the installation of three mobile phone masts – all within 20 metres of the school.

Whereas the pilot program for testing 5G is yet to happen in Cyprus, a couple of 5G Antennas have been installed in the town centre and along the coast of Limassol as a part of Cyta’s preparation phase phase. It is one of the many local telecom companies that have been given the license to run pilot 5G programmes subject to the approval of the legislature.

The youth in Cyprus are set to gather outside the House of Representatives to demand active participation to combat climate change.

According to the organizers of the event, the threat of climate change is no more a future one – rather it is as present as it can get. They emphasized on how scores of communities all over the world are striving to gain access to clean air, water and other natural resources – which are constantly getting scarcer due to overconsumption and lack of sustainable living – as well as powerful entities such as governments doing nothing about it.

They focused on the Energy Action Plan 2021-2030, which seems to have no bearing from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)’s reports and is unclear at best. They also added how the execution of said plan will additionally lead to massive fines being levied on Cyprus by the EU.

In response to the youth’s actions, the Ministry of Education taken their mass participation into account and has duly informed secondary institutions’ head teachers to mark those students as present who have in their hand a signed consent form from their parent or guardian and do participate in the protest. That said, any student found to be using the protest as an excuse to skip school will immediately be marked absent, with further actions pending.

Natasa Pilides, the Deputy Minister of Shipping of Cyprus, has announced to the parliament that the ferry link between Greece and the island nation is set to be reinstated with the help of a ferry service between the two countries that will reportedly begin in May 2020.

With the establishment of this line, an almost two decade long disconnected link will become history. Ms. Pilides added that the Shipping Ministry will be submitting a request to the European Commission to finance said project as well as prepare tenders for route operations.

Ms. Pilides and her team in the Ministry aims to finish up with all prework procedures before EU’s approval, so that once they do get the approval, they can call for tenders immediately and work fast enough to reinstate the line by May in 2020.

The ferry route is planned to operate once every week between May and September, and once every fortnight during the remaining winter months. The trip will take up about 30 hours, and prices will be much cheaper than that of flights in the same route.

The ports in question here are most likely to be the Piraeus port in Greece and the Port of Limassol in Cyprus.

Cyprus’ pharmaceutical services have recalled all medications that contain ranitidine due to concerns that It has possible links with cancer.

The measure has been taken in response to FDA’s announcement of the detection of low levels of NDMA – a carcinogen that is probably present in ranitidine. Tests done on animals have shown that NDMA does indeed have risks of inducing cancer in those consuming it.

Commonly taken for heartburn and minor digestive issues, ranitidine’s main function is to block stomach acid. Products that contain ranitidine include were Zantac injection and tablets, Lumaren injection and tablets, Ranitidine Accord tablets, and Verlost oral solution.

The cease will continue till the European Medicines agency makes its own tests to determine the actual safety of the drug – or lack thereof.

For now, patients who are on said medications on a regular basis have been advised to visit their doctor and/or pharmacist to get tested for issues or to get prescribed an alternative medication.

Both European and U.S. drug regulators are currently reviewing the safety of ranitidine after having made the shockingly breakthrough discovery.

A series of explosions at an army ammunition depot in Cyprus left at least 12 injured and several fleeing to save their lives.

Tourists described what seemed like “several fireballs rising” from the Turkish military base, where a fire has been determined as the cause for the blasts. According to several witnesses who were at the scene, there a large number of deafening bangs were head and many pieces of shrapnel were seen flying and falling around.

The blasts, which happened in the village of Catalkoy in the Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus practically shattered the windows of the Acapulco Hotel nearby, leaving several injured. Most of the injured were guests. Needless to say, the Acapulco Hotel was considerably damaged due to the blasts.

Kudret Ozersay, Foreign Minister for Turkish Cyprus later announced on Facebook that the area was cordoned off due to continued explosions at the military base. Additionally, guests at the Acapulco Hotel were evacuated and moved to a safer spot.

The  Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB) General Director Michalis Antoniou has announced that the OEB has openly asked the government for six tax reliefs, that amount to €500 million annually combined.

Speaking at a working breakfast, General Director Antoniou explained to journalists how said proposed tax reliefs will help increase state revenue by €650 million in the next three years and add at least 9,000 new jobs within the same time period.

Proposals include – abolition of employers’ contribution to Social Cohesion Fund, reduction of percentage of the employers’ contributions to the Protection of Employees’ Rights Fund and the Redundant Employees Fund in the event of an employer’s insolvency, resetting the natural persons’ tax rate, Reduction of interest rate of deposits on national defense contribution from 30% to 15%, Abolition of €350 compulsory company fee to the Official Registrar, and finally, the abolition and/or reduction of deemed dividend distribution.

George Petrou, board chairman of the OEB said that the conditions now being mature enough for tax reliefs in return to payments to the island’s fledgling General Health Scheme (Gesy), businesses can now maintain their edge.

Both France’s Total and Italy’s ENI are now approved to legally explore Block 7 of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) – and legally conduct nine different drilling operations over the following two years.

EEZ Block 7’s access, which is also claimed by Turkey was finalized in a cabinet meeting – the companies had originally applied for the access in November 2018.

Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone is divided into thirteen blocks. Thus far, Turkey claims to have drilling rights in various parts of blocks 1, 4, 6 and 7.